They do things a bit differently at the Trillium Waldorf School. It’s a unique educational environment where the joy of learning is paramount, and where children learn through their own unique capacities, blending the intellectual, practical and artistic.
This Saturday the school, located on the far northeast corner of Guelph at 540 Victoria Road N., will hold its annual Spring Fair, a chance for the public to visit and partake in the many activities that spring from the Waldorf experience. The customary maypole dance will kick off the event at 11 a.m. sharp.
Admission is $15, or $50 per family. Children age three and under get in free. Events will happen outside and inside. There will be an annual plant sale on the front lawn at the same time. It all runs from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Rob Helmer is the independent school’s enrolment coordinator, and the organizer of spring fair. It is one of the school’s largest community festivals, and is an extension of the curriculum.
“A lot of the things that will be highlighted, whether it’s puppet plays or storytelling, music or crafts, all of these things are part of our curriculum.”
Waldorf’s first curriculum was developed nearly 100 years ago in Germany, based on the educational philosophy of Rudolph Steiner, which was grounded in the cultivation of the qualities of imagination, inspiration and intuition. The approach is deeply rooted in nature, in experiential learning, and in making things with the hands.
Helmer said it differs markedly from mainstream school curriculums, and from Montessori education.
“How our curriculum is different is that it’s focused on meeting the child where they are developmentally, through experiential learning, as well as integrating the arts into the general curriculum,” Helmer said.
Waldorf has been in Guelph for 20 years, moving to a new building on Victoria Road 10 years ago, back when it was essentially alone in an open field. It is now entirely surrounded by new residential development.
“The focus in on having the children have a joy of learning — enjoying learning, being inspired to learn,” he said, adding that Waldorf grads tend to have a lifelong interest in learning. “It’s also been found that the children are resilient and resourceful.”
At Waldorf, children from kindergarten to grade 8 learn to craft things with their hands — wooden spoons, a pair of knitted socks, a kite, or a garden. Even the play structures and playhouses out in the spacious playground at 540 Victoria Road N. were built with the aid of children’s hands.
Students learn three languages, English, French and German, and start making music from the start. The school has a strings program and a choir, and kids spend a lot of time working with wood, and out in nature.
Trillium Waldorf differs from a private school in that it has a tuition assistance program that allows access to kids from all socioeconomic backgrounds. Helmer said 65 per cent of students at Trillium Waldorf are assisted by the program.
Over the past decade, the school’s student body has doubled in size. There are currently 170 students in two kindergarten classes, and one class for each grade from one to eight. There is also a daily parent/child program for children up to the age of four.
The school has a brand new website
“For me, the idea behind the spring fair is to give people an experience of Waldorf,” Helmer added. “It’s kind of a gift for the community.”
People who turn out this Saturday can learn how to make a spoon using fire to hollow out the bowl. There will be a kite-making workshop, and a collective willow dome making session. Expect facepainting, felting, woodworking, hula hooping, storytelling, a puppet play, and digging for treasure in the sandbox.
There will be a number of musical performances, including a didgeridoo workshop with Gary Diggins, and music with a “faeries, sprites and spirits” theme with harpist and vocalist Shannon Kingsbury.
The event is run entirely by volunteers, and features a café with simple food and beverages.
